Hate Crimes
The American Psychological Association says of hate crime “ . . . not only is it an attack on one’s physical self, but it is also an attack on one’s very identity.” Attacks upon individuals because of a difference in how they look, pray, or behave have long been a part of human history. It is only recently, however, that our society has given it a name and decided to monitor it, study it, and legislate against it. As a result, law enforcement has been given the task of identifying and responding to bias-motivated crime. In order to discharge this duty, the criminal justice community must have adequate information about the nature and prevalence of hate crime. The Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Program has been a primary source of crime statistics for the use of law enforcement since the Program’s establishment in 1929. When the Hate Crimes Statistics Act of 1990 was passed, the UCR Program was the logical choice to become a clearinghouse for the collection and sharing of data regarding these distinct crimes. Since 1991, the Program has compiled and published statistics on offenses determined by law enforcement to have been driven by bias against race, religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and since 1994, disability.
From the Uniform Crime Reports Hate Crimes Statistics 2002
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